The old campfire-style worship song of unknown origin challenges us to love our neighbor. And we know from the parable Jesus told of the Good Samaritan that this really means we need to love everyone, even those we don’t want to love.

Some people are easy to love. My husband, my parents, my nieces and nephews, my sisters (most of the time!) But there always seem to be those in my life that I struggle even to remember to love, let alone actually accomplishing it. Especially in the way the Apostle Paul describes love in First Corinthians 13!

I am so thankful that I don’t have to accomplish this by myself. The self-sacrificing kind of love we are called to is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. When I allow the Spirit to work in my life, the result is love. And when I find it difficult to love, I can pray and ask for help!

The best part of this is when I do love even my enemies with Christ’s love, God is pleased and He is glorified in me even though it is really Him loving through me.

Synopsis:

First-century Corinth is a city teeming with commerce and charm. It’s also filled with danger and corruption—the perfect setting for Ariadne’s greatest adventure.

After years spent living with her mother and oppressive grandfather in Athens, Ariadne runs away to her father’s home in Corinth, only to discover the perilous secret that destroyed his marriage: though a Greek of high birth, Galenos is the infamous thief who has been robbing the city’s corrupt of their ill-gotten gains.

Desperate to keep him safe, Ariadne risks her good name, her freedom, and the love of the man she adores to become her father’s apprentice. As her unusual athletic ability leads her into dangerous exploits, Ariadne discovers that she secretly revels in playing with fire. But when the wrong person discovers their secret, Ariadne and her father find their future—and very lives—hanging in the balance.

I would like to thank Goodreads Giveaway for giving me this copy of the book. This gift did not influence my opinion or review.

While there are a number of themes in Thief of Corinth, the message of loving others with a 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love is a strong one. Which makes the book challenging, because it is not easy to desire to do that.

I loved seeing Corinth from the eyes of one of the pagans living there in the First Century A.D. Ariadne’s story is told exclusively through her perspective which adds an element of surprise that wouldn’t have been there if we knew what the others were thinking. The historical facts that were imparted were woven into the story so well I almost didn’t realize they were being shared.

I fell in love with all the characters so when it was evident there was a love triangle, I was torn about who I hoped Ariadne would end up with. The way that was resolved was good and right and now I hope we’ll have an opportunity to hear the story of the other man in another book.

This story is full of adventure, suspense, romance, and life changes. Ariadne and her family had some very hard decisions to make as they experienced the forgiveness of their sins and yet had to face the consequences. I thought the way this part played out was done extremely well!

There are a few gritty parts to the story and hints at depravity. There was a part that was a tad bit crude, however, it was necessary to the story. Just a heads up, in case it is important to you.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I’ve seen her book showing up all over the place and was really excited when I won it on a Goodreads giveaway! I love Biblical fiction and was glad for a chance to see how this one would play out. I was not disappointed!

Preview

About Tessa Afshar

Tessa Afshar is an award-winning author of historical and biblical fiction.

Her novel, Thief of Corinth (released August 2018), received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.

Land of Silence was voted by Library Journal as one of five top Christian Fiction titles of 2016, and nominated for the 2016 RT Reviewer’s Choice Award for best Inspirational Romance.

Harvest of Gold won the prestigious 2014 Christy Award in the Historical Romance category.

Her book, Harvest of Rubies, was a finalist for the 2013 ECPA Book Award in the fiction category.

Her first novel, Pearl in the Sand, won her “New Author of the Year” by the Family Fiction sponsored Reader’s Choice Awards 2011.

Tessa was born in Iran and lived there for the first fourteen years of her life. She moved to England where she survived boarding school for girls and fell in love with Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, before moving to the United States permanently. Her conversion to Christianity in her twenties changed the course of her life forever.

Tessa holds an MDiv from Yale University where she served as cochair of the Evangelical Fellowship at the Divinity School. She serves on the staff of one of the oldest churches in America. But that has not cured her from being addicted to chocolate.